Case report: Medical student types journals during ketamine infusions for suicidal ideation, treatment-resistant depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder.
Frontiers in psychiatry January 1, 2022 Joshua Willms, Ben McCauley, Lindsay Kerr et al.
A 30-year-old medical student with treatment-resistant depression, generalized anxiety disorder, PTSD, and 5 years of daily suicidal ideation, who had not responded to therapy, lifestyle changes, or six antidepressants, achieved remission from suicidality and PTSD within 1 month and from depression and anxiety within 7 months after an 8-month regimen of IV ketamine infusions and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) score dropped from 25 (severe depression) to 1 (not depressed). These results suggest ketamine and KAP may be effective for mental health conditions in healthcare professionals. The patient also typed real-time narrative journals during four ketamine infusions, providing first-person accounts of ketamine-induced non-ordinary states.